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Friday, December 21, 2012

Friday links

All the years, all the dollars, all the military training and assistance, all the political acceptance -- including an "embassy" in Washington and diplomatic status -- could not buy the United States one iota of political clout where it counted. It is an enormous American failure of understanding to think those things would trump the natural morphing of Palestinian leadership toward the convergence of politics, religion and "national origin" against the "foreign." The enemy of my enemy is not my friend…. Rather than face their lack of insight, the default position of the US Administration and the Europeans is to blame Israel.

The Spanish government has announced that it will grant automatic citizenship to Jews of Sephardic descent, whose ancestors were expelled from Spain in 1492.The measure has been welcomed by Jewish groups, who say the move is long overdue and that it rights a historic wrong.But Muslim groups are now clamoring for reciprocity, and are demanding that the Spanish government grant instant citizenship to millions of descendants of Muslims who were also expelled from Spain during the Middle Ages.

A new poll by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs shows that the vast majority of Israelis are opposed to an Israeli withdrawal from Judea and Samaria. The poll, taken in November, showed that 76% of all Israelis (83% of Israeli Jews) do not believe that a withdrawal to the 1948 armistice lines will bring Israelis a secure peace.

Syrian chemical weapons could fall into the hands of Lebanese group, Ron Prosor warns"Prosor also attacked the Lebanese group for concealing weapons in populated areas.“Not only does Hezbollah continue to accumulate missiles and weapons, but it also uses civilians as human shields,” he said. “It’s no coincidence that the explosion in the storehouse took place only 300 meters from a school.”

"Canadian MP and former justice minister Irwin Cotler on Wednesday called on the international community to hold Iran accountable for state-sanctioned incitement to genocide and violations of human rights."

This is an important development in the worldwide effort to contain the defiant regime in Tehran, one we have been watching carefully for months and discussing with our friends in Spain,” American Jewish Committee (AJC) Executive Director David Harris said in a statement Dec. 20.

Tenenbom calls for dismissal of Holocaust memorial director who allegedly told him Jews should have set up state in Uganda."In an email to the Post on Tuesday, Dr. Clemens Heni, a leading German academic expert on contemporary anti-Semitism in the Federal Republic, wrote, "It is a scandal that the head of the Buchenwald concentration camp memorial and a recipient of the Heinz-Galinski award supports the Uganda Bar" in Jerusalem. This bar believes the idea is better that Jews should settle in Uganda than in the State of Israel. Knigge embodies the view of many Germans who mourn dead Jews but attack living Jews." Tenenbom was equally critical of Gaede, describing him as being "no better" than Knigge.Daniel Gaede, an educator at the Buchenwald memorial camp, also came under fire from Tenenbom for his participation in anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian activities"This man [Gaede] spends his free time demonstrating against Israel and in support of Gaza¹s Palestinians," wrote Tenenbom."

BANGKOK (AP) — Two Iranians arrested after a botched bomb plot that allegedly targeted Israeli diplomats say they’re innocent and were stunned to discover explosives stashed in a cabinet in their rented Bangkok home, a lawyer said Friday.

Alba Dorata Italia, or Golden Dawn Italy, was formed in Trieste in November and has scheduled its constituent assembly for December 21 in Rome. The party uses the same ancient Greek logo as the Greek Golden Dawn, which has been compared to a swastika, and its platform also reflects anti-immigration and extreme nationalist positions.

According to the Christian Federation of Malaysia (CFM), however, the government imposed a quota of 700 pilgrims per year, with any one church only allowed to send one group of 40.Visits were also limited to 10 days and pilgrims were only allowed one visit every three years, CFM executive secretary Tan Kong Beng told AFP Wednesday.

According to the Post: “Sunnybrook doctors hope the MRI-guided ultrasound technique could eventually be applied to a host of other problems, from brain tumors to Parkinson’s, avoiding the risk of infection and other complications of traditional surgery. The technology might even help diseases like Alzheimer’s better respond to medication by opening up the blood-brain barrier that prevents most drugs from being absorbed into the organ.

In the Peace Corps, I hid my Jewish identity. But that didn’t prevent me from experiencing anti-Semitism.I pushed the door open slowly, and my eyes drifted to the blackboard, which several students had peppered with small white swastikas. I scanned the silent room for perpetrators. Everyone was grinning. I wiped the board clean, shrugged off what appeared to be a prank, and began teaching the lesson as if nothing happened. But when I went home that day, I called our Jordanian security officer and asked for guidance. He told me that to many people in Jordan, Hitler is considered a hero. I said it was wrongheaded history but avoided telling him that the swastikas had bothered me so much because I was Jewish.

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